I just read an article on Ars Technica, where they talk about a study put out by W3Techs on how PHP still dominates the live Web. Today in 2021, PHP is used on about 80% of websites. ASP.net is a distant second with about 9%.

… PHP is still king of the Web!

Interestingly, it seems that Ruby is the only language making some ground, rising to over 6% in 2021.

So you have to ask yourself, why is PHP so dominate?

Short answer: it works. Longer answer is that WordPress is so dominate, that it skews the data in PHP’s favour since WordPress is a PHP based application.

If you are learning to code to get a job, then PHP is a great choice … if finding a job is important to you!

Stefan Mischook

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Are there technical limitation in PHP 7 that prevent it from being used in big companies? Does Java and .NET share capabilities that PHP lacks? Or, is there something else going on?

Check out the video:

The post Java vs. PHP appeared first on KillerPHP.com.

Without a degree, your best chances of getting work is with a small business. Over 80% of small businesses use PHP to power their websites. So that makes PHP the #1 choice for those with no degrees.

WordPress is also widely used by small business, and WordPress is created with PHP, some JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3. Together, these coding languages are part of what is called the web stack. Learn the web stack and you will open up MANY job opportunities.

PHP is old and sucks, no?

LOL! No! Old PHP from the 1990’s wasn’t very good, but much has changed since PHP4. Today PHP is at version 7 and it has all the ability and security as any of the other mainstream languages including:

• JavaScript
• Python
• Java
• C#
• Ruby

So don’t let uninformed nerds convince you that somehow PHP has problems. It doesn’t.

Read more

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But when it comes to the development of high demand (in terms of performance) mobile apps, using native languages like Swift for iOS and Java for Android is still the way to go. This might change with Googles Flutter framework.

Check out the video:

https://flutter.io/
https://facebook.github.io/react-native/
https://phonegap.com/

Thanks!

Stef

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Which programming language is fastest? Which language will win the software development race? The participants include:

C++
C#
Java
PHP
Python
JavaScript
Ruby

… and a late entrant, server side Swift.

When measuring a programming language’s speed, you have to consider three things: write time, deployment and run-time.

Learn PHP web development fast: https://shop.killervideostore.com/
Learn Python 3 fast: http://www.killervideostore.com/python/
Create an AMAZING Business: https://goo.gl/kpVUD2

Thanks!

Stef

The post The 2018 Tour De Nerd Language Race is ON!! appeared first on KillerPHP.com.

One question I get often, is which programming language should you learn?

… I’ve been getting this question for years!

Things change in the programming world, languages come and go. But the good news is that the basics, the core concepts and techniques, are 90-95% the same in all the modern programming languages:

• JavaScript
• Python
• Java for web apps or Java for Android
• PHP
• C#
• Swift
• C++
• C

…. What that means, is that your programming language choice, isn’t nearly as critical as you’d think. Why? Well, once you know one programming language, it is easy as apple pie to switch to another!

How to choose between PHP and Python?

The key to choosing a language comes down to two things: market viability of the programming language and what KIND of programming you want to do.

Kinds of Programming

You have many choices in terms of marketable programming languages … there is plenty of work for the languages listed above. Each language though, means a different kind of programming, and that often means a different type of person would enjoy programming language A vs programming language B.

For example, PHP programming is focused on web development, and that’s all you will do with PHP. In fact, PHP is the most used server-side web app programming language today.

On the other hand, Python is a general purpose language that is used in many areas:

• Data sciences
• Ai and ML
• Web application
• Server automation

… Python strength is the flexibility of the language. PHP’s strength is that it is the best at building web apps, all things considered.

Choosing your language

The key is to explore a little on your part, check out which TYPE of jobs you can get with Python, and the type of jobs you can get with PHP.

Again, different programming languages mean a different type of job.

The good news is that you don’t need to worry about your choice too much, because you can always switch languages later. It’s easy to switch over, because all the above languages share about 90-95% of the same principles and concepts. The code looks different, but learning the code is the easy part.

Suggested first programming languages?

I would suggest Python if you want to get into Ai and ML, and PHP if you want to create web apps or work with WordPress in a serious way.

Hope that helps!

Stefan Mischook

The post PHP vs Python in 2018? appeared first on KillerPHP.com.

PHP is probably the best web app development language out there today for a bunch of reason technical, and market oriented. But it’s not the only language out there and it doesn’t have a monopoly of good programming.

Comparing Programming Languages

An important lessons that my 20+ years of programming experience has taught me, is that one of the best ways to learn one programming language, is to learn another! By learning different programming languages, you will start to gain deeper insights about your first programming language.

Here is the key point, most modern programming languages share about 98% of the same principles and language constructs. That said, each language has their own subtle take on how they do things. So for example, PHP creates functions with this code:

function eatPeas()
{
echo "I love peas!";
}

Python (like so many languages,) has functions too. Python creates function with this code:

def eatPeas():
print("I love peas!")


… Different code/syntax, same concept.

A funny thing happens when to express concepts in different languages: you get a better understanding of the concept. So learning how Python treats functions, will allow you to understand PHP functions better. This really becomes interesting when you get into more advanced concepts like anonymous functions, collection types and OOP.

So if you want to improve your PHP skill, learn some Python!

Note: As and added bonus, learning Python will open you up to a whole new type of programming, like Ai, ML and robotics.

Stefan Mischook
Killerphp.com

The post Learning PHP more Easily by Learning Python … what!? appeared first on KillerPHP.com.

I am excited to announce our upcoming Python course: Powerful Python 3.

AÂ beginners course covering Python 3, students go from an absolute neophyte, to having a working knowledge of object oriented Python. Course is based on Python 3.6.

StudioWeb course details:

In addition to a set of comprehensive and engaging videos, Power Python 3 will include quizzing, code challenges, and gamification that is provided by the StudioWeb app. Your students will learn Python easily, and they will have fun too!

Each video lesson is supported by 4-5 quiz questions, that are made up of both code challenges and multiple choice questions. All our courses leverage the recursive spiral teaching method that helps us to achieve great outcomes with students.

Professor’s Dream:

From a professor’s perspective, StudioWeb provides classroom automation tools that makes it effortless to manage multiple classrooms. In fact, we have many teachers who simply take on the role of classroom facilitator. StudioWeb does the teaching!

At the time of this writing, we are just finalizing the course in terms of the range of topics covered, from the basics to OOP … I will include the table of contents at the bottom of this post. Thus far 50 lessons are complete. The course should have ~55 lessons.

Some of the tools that the StudioWeb app provides:

• Auto grading by course, chapter and lesson
• Realtime progress tracking of student progress and performance
• Built in hinting so it is impossible for students to get stuck
• Excel output of final grades
• Daily activity tracking

Thanks to years of working with many schools, StudioWeb is highly refined and you will achieve exceptional outcomes. We have a 100% renewal rate with schools.

Advance Demo request welcome!

If you would like to get an advanced look at Powerful Python 3 and/or the demo a StudioWeb classroom … please feel free to contact us.

Powerful Python 3 Table of contents (as of May 25th):

1. Introduction

2. Python learning tips

3. Install Python 3.6 on Mac

4. Install Python on Windows

5. First Python code

6. Introduction to Data Types: string and int + comments

7. Introduction to Variables and Floats

8. Why so many programming languages

9. more about comments and variables

10. variables – behind the scenes

11. mixing the data types string and int

12. introduction to drawing with python

13. IDEs Explained

14. Python Loops Introduction

15. Python Loops with range()

16. Python drawing with loops

17. Python conditional statements – part 1

18. Python operators

19. drawing with Python with loops and conditionals – part 1

20. drawing with Python with loops and conditionals – part 2

21. Python history and Philosophy

22. Python List Part 1

23. Python List Part 2

24. Python List Part 3

25. Tuples

26. Python Sequences Overview and Review

27. Python Dictionary / Maps continued

28. Python Dictionary / Maps – updating, inserting and deleting

29. Python PEP 8 (https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/)

30. Input function

31. While loops and infinite loops

32. Nerd words: keywords, syntax, statements, expressions

33. Functions, creating, calling and indents

34. Functions, simple game and flow control

35. Functions, arguments / parameters and return values

36. Function arguments and variable scope.mp4

37. Functions – multiple parameters

38. Flow control with elif and else

39. Function in functions and type conversion

40. Treasure Hunt Game – create function skeletons

41. Treasure Hunt Game – docstring

42. Treasure Hunt Game – function returns

43. Treasure Hunt Game – enter_cave function

44. Treasure Hunt Game – main_loop

45. OOP basic concepts

46. Creating our first class

47. Creating an object from our class

48. OOP – tkinter – basic gui and objects

49. OOP – tkinter -gui with an image

50. Create a class with Stef!

51. Create objects with Stef!

52. Creating a subclass

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After nearly 7 years of working with schools, it seems clear to me that the best way to teach code, is with an open ended lesson plan. Here’s why:

• Learners will learn at different speeds
• Different schools have different schedules
• Rigid lesson plans will inventively break

Overly rigid lesson plans can easily be derailed … I hear about it all the time. Once that happens, teachers are scrambling to get things back on track. The other approach is to use a flexible lesson plan that allows for variability in the classroom:

• Student misses a few days.
• Student is talented and moving fast
• Student is struggling and needs more time
• School gets cancelled a few days for whatever reasons …

A curriculum designed for reality

Instead of a set of highly structured lesson plans that can be hard to implement, we provide a fun and outcome focused set of courses that give students the freedom to learn at their own pace.

… A student missing a few days school, working more quickly or more slowly than other students, won’t break the flow of the classroom.

The goal is that students learn to code, and that they understand the basic concepts behind the code. Luckily, this can be achieved very easily and early on in the courses. For students who are high performing and have zipped ahead of the class, you have plenty of course material in StudioWeb, where they can learn another language (Python, SQL, PHP) or build more elaborate web sites and apps.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
StudioWeb.com

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One of the reasons PHP is a good language to teach server side programming with, is because it is relatively easy to setup a PHP environment on each student’s workstation. With free apps like MAMP and WAMP, you can install a fully functional PHP installation with MySQL, Apache and it comes with an easy to use control panel to manage the servers.

With this 1-click install running, students will be able to explore concepts like:

• web servers
• database servers
• http directory and how it impact server side code processing

… And more.

StudioWeb’s interactive PHP courses teach not only the fundamentals of programming, we also have included key project based courses (crud with PHP, PHP tag cloud) that allow students to see PHP used in a real-world programming context.

Teachers benefit from the interactive training in StudioWeb, since the StudioWeb app tracks student performance including:

• Time on each question
• Question attempts
• Right and wrong code attempts

As such, we generate accurate grades by course, chapter and even the lesson – all presented in simple to read tables. This means that teachers will instantly know how well students have grasped each subject.

PHP is a powerful language that students can almost immediately use in the real world to build great web apps. StudioWeb itself is a PHP app, and after 6 years of refinement, our student outcomes just keep getting better and better.

If you are interested in teaching PHP or learning PHP, check out StudioWeb.com

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